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The 1968 amendment of the Nurseries and Child Minders Regulations Act, 1948 greatlyincreased
the volume of work involved in the day care of children. Towards the end of 1969, a
Senior Nursing Officer was appointed to be responsible for the organisation and supervision of
this work. Playgroups have been established in four of the local authority clinic centres.
A trained nursery nurse is in charge of each playgroup with a paid assistant to help her.
Voluntary helpers are encouraged to take an active part in these playgroups.
In 1965 two full-time health visitors were attached to general practitioners. One in a
two doctor practice and the other in a group practice of three doctors. There are seven health
visitors who have an established liaison with general practitioners, mostly group practices.
Four of these health visitors have weekly baby clinics held at the surgery and the other three
meet the doctors weekly to discuss problems of families on their areas. They also act as
liaison workers between their health visitor colleagues and general practitioners.
In September 1968 after much discussion with all members of the staff involved, a new
concept of child health sessions came into being. A doctor and health visitor work together
to carry out the developmental assessment of each child in certain age groups. Each health
visitor retained her personal interview session, thus making more demands on the health visitor's
time. Appointments are arranged according to health visitor areas so that the social background
of the family is known at the time of assessment. All health visitors find this work more
meaningful and the service is appreciated by the parents of the young children.
Liaison work between local authority and hospital services has increased. Eight health
visitors visit the local maternity hospital wards and interview all new ante natal patients at
the clinics. Four health visitors are involved in weekly liaison with local hospital paediatric
clinics. One health visitor is in attendance at the hospital diabetic clinic twice weekly, one
of the clinics being held in the evening. There is a team of four involved in this work, and
follow-up visits are made by the health visitors whenever necessary. One health visitor visits
the local geriatric unit weekly. All of these health visitors work in close liaison with their
own colleagues and are responsible for obtaining any specialist's reports required. One male
health visiting officer is in attendance at one of the local V.D. clinics and is responsible
for male contact tracing.
Altogether, there are four full-time and three part-time members of nursing staff working
in the two chest clinics. In one chest clinic the local authority staff of one health visitor,
one tuberculosis visitor and two public health nurses, share the combined duties of the Regional
Hospital Board and the local authority. In the other chest clinic, the Regional Hospital
Board's responsibilities are carried out by their own nursing staff and local authority work by
two health visitors and one public health nurse. Chest clinic staff work in close liaison with
their health visitor colleagues.
Day Nurseries
The authority has two day-nurseries with fifty two children in each. Both are recognised
as training centres for nursery nurse students, linked with the West Ham College of Further
Education. Staffing has, at times, proved difficult due to many factors common to other
services in this authority. The intake of students has been maintained, but there has been a
high wastage. The policy of admission to the nursery has been the usual priority categories.
Children with a slight handicap have also been admitted to help the parent and child and to
assist the medical officer assessing the child's need in care and attention.
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